Egypt stops Muslim Brother interview on Jazeera TV

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- An Egyptian Islamist said on Friday that Egypt prevented a leading Arabic satellite channel from running an interview with him this week about legalizing the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Essam al-Erian said Egyptian security authorities pulled the plug on the heavily-publicized interview six hours before the Qatar-based al-Jazeera channel was to broadcast it live from a Cairo studio on Wednesday.

A Jazeera spokesman confirmed the sudden change of heart, saying it came after the channel made arrangements with Egypt a week in advance to air the "Without Limits" programme. Egyptian information ministry officials were not available for comment.

The episode was to discuss the future of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and most influential Islamist group, after it scored a surprising success in recent Egyptian parliamentary elections, despite heavy police harassment.

The Brotherhood won 17 seats in a vote that saw the ruling National Democratic Party's majority reduced from 95 to 85 percent, prompting a debate in Egypt over legalizing the group.

"I don't see any reason for this (ban). It damages the image of Egypt and the Egyptian media," Erian, who this year ended a five-year jail term for belonging to the group, told Reuters.

Set up as a religious anti-colonial movement in 1928, the Brotherhood is viewed as the godfather of Islamist movements in the Arab world, though it was banned in Egypt in 1954.

A period of official tolerance ended in 1995, when the government began a campaign of arrests and military trials, accusing the group of being a front for militant groups.

The taboo-breaking Jazeera, which has aroused the ire of numerous Arab governments since its inception in 1996, has been under fierce attack in Egypt's state media for airing criticism of Egypt's stance at an Arab summit in October.

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